Patara
15 Greek Street
W1D 4DP
Tel: 020 7437 1071
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, August 10, 2008
The Victim: Anonymous Male
The Damage: £22.50 each
The Background: I’ve got a lunch date. A date-date. And I’ve totally messed things up because I’ve got a few too many things going on, on, on. I need to have a leisurely and one-would-hope swooningly romantic lunch AND I need to be in Clerkenwell at 2:45. Nothing very romantic about clock-watching. Especially when you don’t wear a watch. Or a clock.
I pick–nothing like letting the girl pick–Patara because K&A used to rave about it. It’s Thai and I like Thai. A lot.
Because of what I’ve done to myself, schedule-wise, I suggest 12:15 p.m., knowing painfully that no true English man eats Lunch at 12:15. You wait until the little hand has reached 1 p.m. now don’t you?
I’m there at 12:08. He’s there at 12:11. We are the first people in the restaurant. He notes that it’s damn early for lunch. I apologize.
The Service: They’re quiet and friendly and NICE. Really nice.
The Ambiance: K&A have suggested well. There’s something restful about Patara. It’s darkly romantic. Part of me wants to suggest they open a spa.
The Food: Spicy tofu to start for me and it IS spicy. And nice. BUT they’ve cut the tofu cubes into quarters of cubes and they seem dry and, well, OLD. It’s nice, but. I order the pad thai as my main–described on the English menu as noodles and prawns. They get points for presentation because really, it was a lovely looking dish when it arrived. I wanted to take a photo but I wasn’t ready to reveal my blogging alter-ego just yet. Hopefully he hasn’t Google’d or Facebook’d me. I enjoyed my main.
The Verdict: I like Patara. I’d go back. With him? Now wouldn’t you like to know…
5 comments
Come on Krista, you’ve got to tell us more!
Did the gent pay? PS. 12:15 for lunch isn’t too bad in my opinion.
I have my lunch at 11:30am.
The last time I went to Patara Soho it was AWFUL though – expensive and crappy. Maybe they’ve picked up their game, or maybe you were lucky! The one in Mayfair is much nice I think.
I went to the Soho Patara recently and it was great, if a bit bizarre. Wild boar curry? The thai beef salad and the black cod stood out as being the best, and they were delicious.
12:15 is pretty early… !
Patara is one of london’s most underrated chains. Consistently gets good notices and operates at a higher levels than the rather chavvy thai squares. Also notable for its international reach (branch in Singapore and elsewhere). Good pick.
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